Edan_Racing is an AI almost unique...it only plays the little-used Wonder Race game mode in AoK:TC. While it is quite a big drawcard, it limits the AI's use considerably.

The AI itself was well-written. It doesn't automatically resign if you try to play it on a game mode other than WR. Instead, it resigns if its town comes under attack. This allows you to easily use it in a custom scenario, should you ever need an AI that...uh...builds a wonder really fast. It will also trade resources at the market (once it reaches imperial, it doesn't need food at all, so it trades it off for wood, stone and gold) for optimum speed.

For a fast and rapid builder, you can't go past this one. I've lost quite a few times to it, partly due to the AI and partly due to the fact I've never played Wonder Race up to now. I'll have 120 villagers, and be about to go the imperial age. My score is about 2,000 points higher than my computer opponant. I'm thinking that it's in the bag when I get an ominous "Edan_Racing has advanced to the Imperial Age" message, and a few seconds later an even more ominous "Edan_Racing is building a wonder." I've learnt a lot of effective tactics and strategies from watching Edan_Racing play...such as not making more than 60 villagers the whole game, and taking all of my villagers off gathering food once I click the "Imperial" button. It is certainly a clever AI.

Some parts of the file are rough around the edges. For instance, when building a lumbercamp, most AIs will put it right up against the wood, rebuilding it closer as the forest gets chopped away. Edan_Racing will often drop a lumbercamp four or five tiles away from the wood, and doesn't rebuild it at all, so its villies will have to walk a long distance and lose productivity considerably.

I don't think it was playtested over a wide enough range of maps. Sure, it works fine on Yucatan or Highlands, but it just doesn't play well on maps with out-of-the-way resource allocation. Not to say that it's a one trick pony, but how well it plays seems incredibly dependant on the map. As noted in the descriptions page, it bombs on Scandinavia due to lack of berries. Worse still, it has no support for water maps. Anyone who has played on islands will know that creating fishing boats early in the game is vital, as they are basically additional villagers that can only gather food. Even on Archipelago, it lost horribly to the standard AI, which fished and so had a stronger economy.

And ultimately, is there any real need for a Wonder Race AI? I don't know anyone to whom Wonder Race is treated as anything but a parochial novelty, and the standard AI is a tough enough opponant in most cases. Practicing against the AI to improve your booming skills is one obvious us for Edan_Racing, but if you're practicing for a real game online it would make more sense to download a strong RM AI like Zycat, which will actually attack you and also test your defensive skills. If anyone has an interest in the pariah Wonder Race, this AI is certainly recommended.